Tadashi Kaneyama
Tadashi Kaneyama and Norman Bjornsson were the pilots of Echo Saber. They conducted operations for 6 years until Echo's destruction in 2024. History Childhood Tadashi and Norman first met in an international school in Zurich. On Norman's first day, his computer background image of Iron Man 2's final battle caught Tadashi's attention. The two boys soon racked up a long conversation on Iron Man and all his associated awesomeness. Such heated discussions would continue until their last deployment in Puget Sound. College As high school came to a close, Tadashi and Norm applied for the Unversity of Zurich as engineering students; their love for all things Iron Man and War Machine naturally sparked an interest in robotics. They were accepted into Zurich, and quickly made a name for themselves as the most profound nerds on campus. Norm and Tadashi were freshmen when Trespasser signaled the beginning of the Kaiju War. They automatically became attached to the jaegers, colossal man-made mechs designed to decimate a kaiju. As juniors, they hacked the university broadcasting system and played live footage of Brawler Yukon's engagement with Karloff. Although their professors were miffed, they too were basking at the success of humanity's first jaeger to really care. After graduating in late 2016, Tadashi and Norm put their original career paths on hold and applied for the Jaeger Academy. Jaeger Academy Tadashi and Norman were accepted into the Jaeger Academy class of 2017. Things didn't start out so good, as they barely passed physical examinations and took longer to master Jaeger Bushido than some other candidates. Yet Drift compatibility turned out great, with both men managing a decent 80% in the first simulation. This score rocketed up to 96% on their second Drift, solidifying their status as prospective Rangers. They graduated in early 2018, along with the future pilots of Mammoth Apostle and Nova Hyperion. Active Service Personalities Both Tadashi and Norman are tremendous Iron Man fans, having memorized the mark number and stats of every single Stark suit from the comics to the MCU. They thus blew a gasket when Iron Man's mark 46 suit was pathetically nerfed during Civil War, and went as far as signing a petition against Marvel Studios. They withdrew this petition after seeing Infinity War, in which both Iron Man and War Machine demonstrated satisfactory feats. However, Tadashi and Norman's preferences differ when it comes to specific suits; Tadashi prefers the sleeker Iron Man suits, while Norm loves the bulky, armored War Machine armors. Their favorite suits are the Mk.45 and War Machine Mk.4, respectively. Due to their differing preferences, Tadashi and Norm often have heated debates on this subject. Although divergent in execution, their arguments always begin with Tadashi grumbling about how War Machine is basically the Mk.2. Norm corrects him that it's an entirely new suit starting from the War Machine Mk.2. From then on, it's an intense battle of profanity and baseless statements, none of which make the slightest sense. Skills Tadashi and Norm are not exceedingly good combatants, nor are they always willing to follow orders. Of course, they do possess enough combat skills and discipline as Rangers. However, both are unquestionably more oriented toward scientific knowledge and creativity. This was regarded as a weakness during their Academy years, but actually proved to be useful during engagements; their deep understanding of Echo Saber's systems, along with the ability to think outside-the-box, translated to some spectacular kaiju kills over the years. Category:Rangers Category:Jaeger pilot